The computer has become a permanent fixture in society. Computers are used to facilitate data communications and electronic commerce between businesses, and to gather various types of data such as news, stock market quotes, research facts, sport scores, etc. Furthermore, computers serve as a source of entertainment through audio and/or visual output display. Just about every aspect of daily life is affected by computers.
The high technology environment of computers is constantly changing. Typically, staying current with evolving computer technology requires the user to choose between the economics of a computer system replacement or a computer system upgrade. In a computer system upgrade, users attempt to choose upgrade hardware most appropriate for their particular needs and operating environment. For example, common upgrade hardware considerations include faster processor speed, enhanced video capabilities, increased memory, network capabilities, particular I/O devices, etc. For a vendor to provide a meaningful computer upgrade recommendation, the vendor must typically gather information from the user regarding the hardware and software configuration of the user's client computer.
Such data gathering methods include phone or mail surveys, and registration packets filled out by the user after purchase of the computer components or system. Another data gathering method involves electronic transfer of data from the user to the vendor. For example, the user enters information about the user's computer via on-screen menus, and the information is transmitted to a server computer generally via the Internet, regarding the model of the user's computer. The user is then presented with information about their system including upgrade products and paths. Although this method offers upgrade options and is viewed by many as an improvement over prior methods, its success is dependent on the user's knowledge of the client computer's current configuration.
Another method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,578, issued Apr. 9, 2002 and titled “Active Marketing Based On Client Computer Configurations”, uses a product information database which contains product signatures. The client's system is scanned (e.g., by server software) for the presence of the product signatures corresponding to each product in the product information database to determine if each product is present on the client computer. This method relies less on the user's actual knowledge of his or her client computer than does the previously-described methods, but nonetheless this method is very inefficient because most of the products scanned for are typically not present on the client's computer. Further, the data gathered from such scanning is not always accurate and/or complete enough to allow the vendor to make an optimal upgrade recommendation. This is due to inherent limitations in the manner in which industry-standard SMBIOS (System Management Basic Input/Output System) and SPD (Serial Presence Detect) data is created, reported, accessed, and/or used in combination with other data to determine the true system state of a client computer.
Since optimizing the accuracy of an upgrade recommendation results in enhanced product reliability and component compatibility, an accurate upgrade recommendation should be based on the most reliable data in determining the current system configuration. Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method of providing upgrade information for a computer that is more accurate, efficient, and reliable than known methods.